Kuwait flag
Basic Facts of Kuwait
Official name: State of Kuwait
Capital: Kuwait City
Area: 17,818 sq km, 6,880 sq mi
Population 2,596,799 (2008 estimate)
Population growth rate: 3.59 percent (2008 estimate)
Population density: 146 persons per sq km, 377 persons per sq mi (2008 estimate)
Urban/rural distribution:
Share urban 96 percent (2003 estimate)
Share rural 4 percent (2003 estimate)
Largest citie: As Salimīyah , Jalīb ash Shuyukh, Hawalli, Kuwait City,
Languages: Arabic (official), English widely spoken
Religious affiliations:
Sunni Muslim 45 percent
Shia Muslim 40 percent
Roman Catholic 9 percent
Hindu 3 percent
Nonreligious 1 percent
Other 2 percent
Life expectancy:
Total 77.5 years (2008 estimate)
Female 78.7 years (2008 estimate)
Male 76.4 years (2008 estimate)
Literacy rate:
Total 84.4 percent (2005 estimate)
Female 82.9 percent (2005 estimate)
Male 85.8 percent (2005 estimate)
Total number of military personnel 15,500 (2004)
Introduction:
Kuwait (country), nation in the Middle East, located at the northwestern tip of the Persian Gulf. Kuwait is a small, desert country, but it possesses a strategic stretch of Persian Gulf coastline and significant petroleum reserves. Kuwaiti citizens, who are Arab Muslims, make up less than half of the country’s population—most of the remainder are immigrant workers.
Kuwait City
Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait, functions as one of the busiest financial and trade centers in the Middle East. The city, which dates from the 1700s, is located on the edge of Kuwait Bay, a harbor in the northwestern Persian Gulf. Large oil reserves in the coastal desert and the Persian Gulf have financed the modernization of Kuwait City. Two water-storage tanks, left, designed to resemble minarets, or mosque towers, hold the city’s potable water.
Al Hamra Tower, Kuwait City
Al Hamra Tower will be the first “sculptured” skyscraper in the world. Unlike most high rises, Al Hamra Tower is not symmetrical. The 77 story building has two walls that vary in distance from the core. It will be 412 meters high (1,352 feet) surpassing the nearby Liberation Tower. The base of the tower will connect to a 23,000 five story mall. The shopping center will feature a 10 screen Cineplex which will also have IMAX theaters. The topping out of the building is scheduled for mid 2009, and completion in 2010.